Kitchen Love

I love home decor, but I've always been slow to decorate any house I've lived in. What it boils down to is commitment issues. A nail in the wall or purchasing new items just feels like a forever thing to me, so I need to be sure. And, by that, I mean I need to overanalyze until I lose interest in decorating altogether. But, last week, I was looking through some of my pins on Pinterest. The ones I create like a woman possessed, and then never do anything with. And, suddenly, I felt that I needed to do something productive with all those good ideas that other people had. So, I told Jeff I was thinking about doing a "Pin of the Week," and posting about it here on my blog, just for some accountability. And, then, before I knew what had come over me, I had ordered this wine/towel rack that I pinned eons ago, with the intention of turning it into a display rack for our rolling pin collection. It arrived, and Jeff hung it for me (using only one wall anchor!), and I love it! With that addition, the inspiration sort of started to run over, and the next thing I knew, I had bought baskets to organize a particularly rough-around-the-edges (literally!) cabinet that needed some serious organization. (You'll not be surprised to learn that it was the kids' cabinet, with all the plastic cups and plates, one of the doors of which had been broken off in an unauthorized game of hide-and-seek that got completely out of hand.) Then, while I was at it, I got out the wooden utensil collection we have been working on since we lived in Brazil. While there, we visited a museum that had the most amazing wooden utensil exhibit and decided we wanted a wooden utensil "exhibit" of our own. And, until today all the awesome wooden gadgets we've collected or been given from all over the world have been sitting in an unopened basket, waiting for me to get finished analyzing and never seeing the light of day. The decorating floodgates were already open, so it was time. And, now, my kitchen sink is flanked by wooden spoons and forks and things-I-don't-even-know-what-are-but-look-really-cool! And, it just makes me so happy to look at all the pretty little doodads. My kitchen has never felt so loved! And, I am in love with the way it all looks! I wish I would have taken the plunge years ago.

I am still going to try to do a "Pin of the Week," so check back in next week to see if I make good on that. I'm not promising it will be amazing, but it could be fun. And, it might just inspire you to take action on some of your long-neglected pins, as well.

This week's Pin of the Week: towel rack turned rolling pin display

Sanity saved, and it looks cute, too!

Wooden Utensil Exhibit

The (mostly) African Collection

Decade Day

Guess which decade Ruth is representing for "Decade Day" in her Challenge class?

Another Watts Weekend

On Friday, we took the whole crew into Austin for lunch at the Estancia Churrascaria for a birthday/half-birthday bash for everyone celebrating this month. It was so nice to have a little (BIG!) taste of Brazil, both culinarily and culturally. There were so many Brazilians eating there, speaking in Portuguese and kissing each other on the cheeks, we could almost feel as if we were back in that beautiful country. The only things missing were the chicken hearts and cow hump, which I guess don't go over too big here in the States.

We set no alarms on Saturday morning, which was a first for us since the fall sports began! Ruth did have her last volleyball game of the season, but it wasn't until noon, so we didn't have to rush around to get there. Nana and Papa were able to make it to the game and then join us for lunch at Bella Sera afterwards. Later in the day, I went over to Bee Cave to do a little kidless shopping, which was blissful, if I might just be honest. It was also quite productive, as I bought several gifts I needed to get, a new organization system for a problem cabinet, and some fancy shoes for a fancy date night coming up this next week.

Our Sunday morning began with the first dip in the hot tub of the season. Then, we headed over to Bee Cave to partake of the amazing brunch at Iron Cactus. After that, we picked up a few (million) things at Sam's, which is one of the kids (and Jeff's) favorite places to shop. Jeff had a meeting scheduled with one of his new contractors for noon, so the kids and I dropped him off and then went over to Zilker Park to enjoy the beautiful day. A couple of hours later, with the van weighed down with our Sam's haul and some of the colder things started to lose their chill, we headed home. Three miles from the house, we had a blowout. We had to rearrange the groceries to get to the jack and spare tire, and then Jeff spent the better part of thirty minutes just trying to get the jack under the van. It was a no-go because of how low to the ground it was. A kind stranger stopped to offer assistance, thinking it was just the kids and I stranded on the side of the road. No progress could be made with his jack either, so eventually, Jeff asked if the man could just give him a ride to our house so he could get our bigger/better jack and Jeff's car, in case we needed to evacuate the kids and groceries. Jeff still couldn't make any headway with the other jack and was just about to give up, when a tow truck driver stopped, of his own accord, without expectation of being reimbursed. He had the right equipment and Jeff was finally able to get the tire changed. One of our neighbor's even happened to be driving by and stopped to see if we needed any help. There are still good people in the world, and I can't even tell you how thankful we were for all the help and how grateful I am that this didn't happen while I was by myself, driving home in the dark last night! We ended the day as we began it, since we were all in need of a little relaxation at that point.

Mama needs a time-out…and a very strong drink

I don't know if it was the weather or having dad out of town or the approaching full moon or what, but my kids were extra-crazy today, and I was already in a bad mood because our Internet connection was non-existant on a day when I had a ton of emails to send. Here are a few highlights from the day:

My youngest child has entered a nakedness phase and absolutely refuses to wear clothing, except for the occasional pull-up or pair of underwear, sporadically paired with unmatched boots in various sizes. After chasing him around for a while this morning, I finally threw up my hands and let the child run wild and free. All. Day. That's right, on what will probably be our coldest day of the year, my baby wore no clothes. I'll be waiting by the mailbox for my Mother of the Year award. That same child also locked his bedroom door, before pulling it closed, no fewer than four times by mid-morning. While I was busy jimmying the lock each time, he was stealing I-don't-even-know-how-much candy from the pantry.

Meanwhile, the other children, who were supposed to be investing in their education, were running amuck and making ridiculously bad choices. Repeatedly. I will admit, I also gave in to temptation and made some bad choices of my own. By 11:00, I felt like I was losing control and sent myself to time-out in my bedroom. I wished I could have stayed forever. I would seriously love it if someone put me in permanent time-out. Eventually, though, I began to worry about those on the other side of the bedroom door setting the house on fire, so I came out. Reluctantly.

Around 8:30 this evening, Jeff texted to see if I had survived the day. I wisely and prophetically responded that I couldn't say for sure just yet. Almost the next thing that happened was that I checked in on Max in the bathtub and found that he had amassed, in the tub with him (from who-knows-where), a whole forest worth of paper, which he was desperately trying to coax out of the drain in large clumps when I walked in. I turned myself around and went straight to the kitchen for the alcohol.

I'm so glad we all get to try again tomorrow.

In addition to the normal chaos this week:

MONDAY

• Our bedroom furniture finally arrived! The truck pulled up in front of our house at 8:30 pm and, after unloading and putting the bed together, the guys finally left just a few minutes after 11:00. We love it and are so proud to have grown-up furniture in our bedroom for the first time in our lives! (The furniture we had before was a combination of dressers and a nightstand my parents bought for me when I was a freshman in high school and a nightstand Jeff has had since he was about eight !)

TUESDAY

• It was Claycito's half-birthday! 2 ½--so unbelievable! He has recently discovered some Bob the Builder videos left over from Ruth's toddler years and has been completely enamored, so I searched online for Bob the Builder paraphernalia, which is apparently no longer very popular, and finally found a few videos packaged in what Clay calls a "lunch pack" and a construction zone play set. The truly awesome thing about the play set, and the thing I didn't notice before purchasing it, is that it speaks in a foreign language that we don't recognize. I guess Bob is still popular in some parts of the world! This doesn't bother Clay in the least. He loves his new Bob the Builder stuff so much. The big kids all also insisted on buying a little something for him with their own money. They are all so, so sweet!

• Max showed off his pitching arm by throwing a rock through a window at the church where we meet for CC. 
• Jeff left for an overnight business trip to Houston.

WEDNESDAY

• Clay wore underwear all day (except for nap time), including several hours away from the house, and only had one small accident. Dare I hope there is light at the end of this potty training tunnel?

THURSDAY

• The land clearing project we have had going on here for months finally wrapped up. Our land looks so amazing! Now, to get the actual landscaping done. 
• We dropped our truck off at the mechanic to get it up to snuff so we can go about selling in in the near future. 

FRIDAY

• I had an early meeting at a local coffee shop with the other CC directors from the Marble Falls campus.
• Jeff booked a flight to Bozeman, MT for next week to meet with a new client.
• The kids and I participated in a CC field trip to the Johnson City Zoo, which is a place the kids absolutely love.

• We called off school in the afternoon to head over to Aggieland. A game wasn't going to happen for us this season, but we've been dying to take the kids to Yell and show them around campus. We had dinner at Chicken Oil Company, which seems to be one of the few old school places still in business. Then we grabbed some FROYO, before heading over to our rented house for a pre-Yell nap. After our little rest, we joined the throngs at the soon-to-be renovated Kyle Field for the last Fightin' Texas Aggie Yell Practice of the season.

SATURDAY

• Weston had a playoff football game in Marble Falls, and I had an area CC director luncheon, both of which came up after we had planned our Aggieland weekend. Since it was too late to cancel the house reservation and get a refund when these activities came up, we decided to just let the crazy take over. So, we drove home after Yell, arriving home around 3:30 am, and then drove back to College Station after our obligations were met. Unfortunately, Weston's team did not advance to the next round of the playoffs, but he had so much fun this season and got a medal for being a semi-finalist, which helped to ease his disappointment somewhat. 

• We got back to A&M at half-time and were able to watch the rest of the game in the student center and then see the yell leaders get tossed in Fish Pond and participate in the Victory Yell after the Aggie win. 

• We had dinner in Bryan at Caffe Capri, another place Jeff and I enjoyed when we were students at A&M.

SUNDAY

• After a leisurely breakfast, we took the kids over to play at Research Park and then went to Freebird's for lunch. 
• After lunch, we decided to spend a little more time on campus before heading home. 

First Crazy Weekend in November

Most weekdays I don't seem to have time to catch my breath, which is why I have only been showing up here occasionally (and often only in bullet-pointed lists) on the weekends. I would love to tell you that life will slow down soon and I'll be appearing more regularly and slightly more coherently, but that seems unlikely for the foreseeable future. We are in the middle of a football season that just won't end (yay, playoffs and pick-up games!) and have signed everyone of age up for the winter sports of their choice, which, of course, will not be the same for all the kids or played in the same city. I would say, "Well, at least it keeps us off the streets," but if there is one place we are for sure, it's the streets. Who was the woman that put the "stay-at-home" in stay-at-home mom, anyway? I'd like to meet her. The good news is, I'm here now to tell you all the fascinating details of our crazy weekend. (Try to contain your overwhelming enthusiasm!)

Jeff's birthday was on Friday. He says he's officially in his late thirties, but I choose to heartily disagree, since I am approaching that age myself within the year. Jeff wanted to celebrate by going to a local high school football game. Thirty minutes before it was time to leave the house, Clay was in full meltdown mode, and by the time everyone was ready to walk out the door, he was sound asleep. So, the plan was modified a bit, and just Jeff and the big boys went to the game, while Ruth and Clay and I celebrated in our own ways at home.

Doesn't look like late 30s to me!

Thankfully, our Saturday sports were not until 11:00, which meant a mostly leisurely morning. Max's football season was supposed to have ended last weekend, which he was ecstatic about. But his coaches were able to get in on a pick-up game in Canyon Lake, and Max couldn't imagine anything he'd rather do that play in that game. So, since Jeff hadn't seen a volleyball game in a while, he offered to take Ruth to her game along with the other two boys, and I took Max. Since the season was over, we had ceremoniously thrown the nasty mouthpiece in the trash following the last game. We (not me) had also neglected to put our jersey in any kind of location that made sense for actually finding it or wearing it. So, we (I) scrounged up Weston's jersey from last year and a spare (new) mouthpiece that didn't really fit in Max's mouth. Of course, no one bothered to tell me the mouthpiece was ill-fitting until we were many miles down the road. That's when things got a little redneck. I whipped into a dollar store, purchased a pair of scissors and snipped the ends off the mouthpiece until it would go in far enough for Max to close his lips. I don't want to think about how unsterile those scissors were. (Or the mouthpiece, for that matter). When we arrived in Canyon Lake, we found ourselves in the middle of a huge bike race that was taking place in the heart of a construction zone. The race seemed to span both lanes of traffic, and the cyclists, true to form, seemed completely oblivious to the motorized traffic on either side of them. Additionally, the road we needed to turn on to get to the football field was completely shut down "for maintenance." Not being familiar with the area, I was blindly trusting my GPS to get us there, and ended up going in circles forever, before finally figuring out the detour route. I was a nervous wreck, but we did finally make it to the field, where Max played the game and then enjoyed pizza provided by the other team. As we left the field, I asked Max if he had fun. He enthusiastically indicated that he did have a good time. So, I asked him if he was planning to play again next year, to which he replied, "No way! I just meant it was fun getting to have pizza after the game." So glad I risked my life and sanity for this Saturday morning outing. Max and I did get to have a lunch date, though, which was very special. I'm not so sure that he and I have ever really been alone like that. So, I guess the morning's antics were worth it after all.

A special lunch date

After a brief stint at home, trying to get a few things done around the house and overseeing a round of front porch haircuts, I had my second date of the day. This one was an adult-only affair, and the juice was less sweet and more alcoholic. This was Jeff's and my second visit to the Cabernet Grill in Fredricksburg, and we hope it will not be our last. The atmosphere is fun and the food is delicious! Mostly because we were unwillingly to end our date after dinner, we made our way over to Sweet Marley's for FROYO. The air conditioned building drove us outside, but the even colder temps there landed us in the van, where we turned on the heater and seat warmers and enjoyed our FROYO in all the glamour and romance you are picturing. Back at home, we tuned in to the Aggie game but quickly realized we are old (late 30s!) when we decided we'd just go to bed at half-time. Fortunately, the Ags pulled out the major victory without our help, and we avoided the heart attacks that almost always accompany Aggie games.

Texas Tempranillos 

Our treat for fall-back Sunday was having it be light out at 6:30, when Clay climbed into our bed, which meant there was no chance to go back to sleep. And, since I was up at such an enterprising hour, I decided to make these low-cal pumpkin muffins for breakfast. While the second batch was in the oven and the first batch was cooling, I hopped in the shower. All but two muffins had been devoured by the time I reentered the kitchen, and those were only there because Jeff forced the kids to save some for me. I guess they were a hit. They were surprisingly moist and very easy to throw together. I will definitely be making them again! (And, speaking of low-cal yummies, I made some birthday cupcakes--pictured above--for Jeff, using a tip I saw online to cut the fat: take any cake mix, add two egg whites and 10 oz. of any diet soda and bake as usual, in cupcake or cake form. We topped ours with fat-free Cool Whip, and they were scrumptious! We may have liked them better than the full-fat version.) The other highlight of the day was the First Sunday Potluck after church. The kids were all on the fence about whether they wanted to go to church or not until they realized they it was the most glorious of all Sundays. Holy zeal took over at that point and everyone couldn't wait to hop in the van. Since then, we have been enjoying a quiet afternoon/evening at home, with various people watching football, shopping for used cars, painting, napping, jumping on the trampoline, watching a movie, doing chores, blogging, getting some work done, and spilling large amounts of laundry detergent all over the utility room. I'll let you guess who's been doing what.

Football watching buddies

If you've stuck it out through this long, infinitely mundane post, thank you. Both of you. You should reward yourself with a special snack--maybe some low-cal cupcakes or muffins. Thanks for hangin' with the Watts through the mundanity and insanity.

Birthday Fun

An otherwise lovely weekend

Jeff and I got to have a Date Night on Friday. We've been making an effort to make this a priority this school year, and it has been so good for us in so many ways! We tried a new-to-us steakhouse over in Spicewood, which was absolutely excellent. Then, we spent a couple of hours wandering around Barnes & Noble in Bee Cave. We managed to get out without doing too much financial damage, but that store is truly dangerous.

The three big kids had sports in three different towns on Saturday morning, which was fun to juggle. We all left the house at 7:00 am. Ruth and Clay and I dropped Jeff and the big boys off at Starbucks in Marble Falls on our way to Burnet for the 8:00 volleyball game. They waited there for one of Weston's coaches to pick them up. Jeff and Max were then dropped off in Canyon Lake, and Weston went on to Bandera. When Ruth finished up her game, we made haste to pick up Jeff and Max and then hustle over to Bandera, where we got in on the second half of Weston's game. His team had their biggest win of the season and secured their place in the playoffs. Woo-hoo!

Since we were so close to San Antonio, we decided to just make a mini-vacation of it. Our first order of business was to track down some yummy Mexican food, which we found at La Fogata, a new-to-us, off-the-Riverwalk, super-fun place. The next stop was the San Antonio Children's Museum, which is one of our kids' all-time favorite children's museums. And, we've been to a whole bunch of children's museums in several different states! They played hard until closing time. We then loaded everyone up and headed to the nearest Nissan dealership to try out the NV van. We aren't really in the market for something new just yet, but we had seen one of these the other day and wanted to get a closer look. After a quick test drive and a stop at Walmart (because what's a weekend away without a stop at Walmart?!), we stopped by the hotel, before heading down to the River for dinner at yet another new-to-us, yummy Mexican food place. I'm not sure how we've missed this place on our previous trips to San Antonio, but we won't miss it again! After a long day of fun, we were all ready to hit the hay back at the hotel. (All of us except for Clay, who was over-tired and wound up and didn't go to sleep until almost 11:00!)

Friendly HEB checker

True-to-life shopping experience
(You can tell it's true-to-life by the overflowing shopping cart!)

life-size tinker toys

from the farm to the table

pig farmer

milking this experience for all it's worth

We headed home after a late breakfast, so that we could get a few things done around the house before Ruth's piano recital this afternoon. She played three songs, including a duet and the song she wrote. And even though she was a bit nervous, she did great!

Unfortunately, in the midst of all this frivolity, we received word that Jeff's grandmother passed away on Saturday evening. She had not been in good health for a while, but no one really realized how serious things were. Regardless, the death of a loved one is never really something a person is truly prepared for. This was obviously a somber note in an otherwise lovely weekend. Granny Wanda will definitely be missed.

King Clovis of the Frankish Empire

Local Luau

Getting our aloha on at Tea Thyme Cafe

Trying to recover from another wild weekend

Friday

• We celebrated Jeff and Weston's November birthdays with Jeff's parents on Friday night, since they will be out of the country when those birthdays roll around. 

Saturday

• The usual sporting events: Max playing flag football, Ruth playing volleyball and Weston playing tackle football. The boys' teams were victorious, and Ruth's had a very narrow loss. However, Ruth played her best game and had much to be proud of. 
• Ruth had a social outing to Sweet Berry Farm with many of the other CC Challenge students. She got to do a huge corn maze, paint a pumpkin, jump around on a giant air pillow and (most importantly) hang out with her buddies. 
• The rest of us had lunch with Mimi and Grandpa after the football game at Which Wich.
• I spent a couple of hours shopping all by myself, while I waited to pick Ruth up. 
• When Ruth and I made it back to the house, we all gathered around for our weekly heart attacks, this time ending in a sad defeat for the Aggies.
• We had four extra kiddos for several hours on Saturday evening, two of which stayed all night. 

Letting the creative juices flow

Sunday

• The boys and their friends were up at 6:30, ready for waffles. Thank goodness Dad was also up and willing to play chef.
• We participated in the Phoenix Center's first annual Fun Run. 
• After lunch and naps (for some of the younger ones among us), we decided to let Weston cash in his birthday present from Mimi and Grandpa, with a trip over to Jumpoline Park and Golden Corral in Austin. 
• After dinner, we decided to check out the relatively new Trader Joe's store. We love Trader Joe's so much and found several interesting things to bring home!

At the starting line for the Fun Run

Speedy Gonzales and his medal

Weston executing a nice flip

A bouncer's paradise

Dodgeball!

*Picture disclaimers: When I remembered to take pictures at all, I took them with my phone, so they aren't super-awesome. Clay was with us all weekend, but doesn't show up in any of the pics. Lighting was low and action was high at the Jumpoline Park, which is why those are all a bit fuzzy. Shout out to my friend, Jeanette, who took the picture of Ruth painting a pumpkin.

Gotta brag

Ok, people. This is a brag post. I'm not even gonna try to candy-coat it: my children are absolutely brilliant and completely amazing. Let's go youngest to oldest, shall we?

Clay is starting to speak in sentences. Clear, understandable, grammatically incorrect, adorable sentences. He can yammer on about almost anything. He has also recently starting pretending, and he has an imaginary friend named Jibba. And, he is learning (by listening to his older siblings practice their CC memory work) several conjugations of Latin noun endings, his favorite being Imperfect Tense.

Max is doing a great job in all his school subjects, and he knows most of the first six weeks worth of CC memory work (which includes skip counting through the 12s, European geography, Latin conjugations, different types of pronouns, 42 timeline cards, Science (Ecology) facts and some Medieval History facts). He is using some of his free time to learn the U.S. presidents and to work on some inventions, because he hopes "to be a famous inventor, like Da Vinci, someday." And, today at CC, he really wanted to carry the soccer ball in from outside, but offered it to a younger child instead, without being prompted.

Weston is on track to finish his 3rd Grade Math book by the end of the semester (even though he's just in 2nd Grade). He is reading really long chapter books, like Hardy Boys, in just a day or two. And, he has the CC memory work down pat. Today, he was also nominated as one of CC's kids of the week, for his "willingness to work with a cheerful heart and his enthusiasm for the material." This was his second time to be nominated this semester!

Ruth is excelling in her CC Challenge class and is ahead in most subjects. We are having to come up with new challenges for her, and, better yet, she is coming up with some for herself. Having finished the Challenge writing assignment early, she came up with her own assignment today, which was a very logically and clearly written critique of a non-fiction book she is reading for Challenge. It was clear she had given it a great deal of thought and that it was a subject she was fairly passionate about. And, for music class today, she finished composing a waltz she has been working on. She did this, not while sitting at her keyboard experimenting with different sounds, but while sitting in the silence of the library. She said she just heard the music in her head and knew which notes would make it sound right. She couldn't wait to get home to play it for Jeff and me. And, I'd be lying if I told you my jaw didn't drop. I'm still completely in awe! She calls it "The Waltz Fantasy," and I may be biased, but I think it's absolutely beautiful!

Jeff and I are so very proud of all our kids! They constantly amaze us, and we feel so blessed to be here everyday to watch them learn and grow and discover! They have so much to teach us and we are trying to pay close attention so we don't miss anything.

Watts Weekend

FRIDAY

• The kids and I participated in a fun field tip to Longhorn Cavern with our CC group. 
• The boys and I ran errands, while Ruth attended her art class.
• We closed on our Kingwood house!!! Finally, the albatross is lifted.
• We had breakfast for dinner and watched "Tangled."
• It was early to bed due to early sports the next day.

SATURDAY

• Ruth had a volleyball game at 8:00, which ended in her team's first victory of the season.
• Max played football at 9:00, and his team was also victorious.
• Weston's football game was at 10:00, and his team came away with a win as well. 
• Ruth and Jeff each took a turn in the concession stand during the football games.
• Mimi came to all the games and spent the afternoon with us.
• We had lunch at Tea Thyme after Weston's game, which is a place with lots of healthy options that we all just love. 
• We visited a life-size Old Testament Tabernacle replica, which will be set up in Marble Falls all week. It was very well done, and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. 
• I found somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand acorns in my washing machine and still don't know whether that was courtesy of just one boy or a concerted effort by all three. It was a good reminder to check pockets before throwing the clothes in.
• Weston, along with the rest of us, got to watch his beloved Longhorns take home a win.
• Ruth cleaned out and organized both refrigerators, which just makes happy. The cleaning part was one of her assigned chores for this week, but the organizing was her own idea. She's a girl after my own heart. 
• We set up a pizza bar, and everyone got to create their own culinary masterpieces for dinner. 
• I had several strokes while watching the Aggies try to eek out the victory over Ole Miss. I do not need that kind of stress in my life!
• The rain came down all night long, making beautiful music to sleep by, as it tapped on the metal roof. 
• Clay slept all night, which he has not been in the habit of doing lately.

SUNDAY

• Clay slept in until 7:30, which he also hasn't been in the habit of doing lately.
• The Dish Network service guy was at our house at 8:00 am to work on our satellite, on a Sunday, on a ladder, in the pouring rain. It was a pretty amazing customer service experience.
• Everyone else also slept in, as the rain continued to soak our little part of the world. 
• There were waffles and omelets for breakfast.
• I got all my CC prep work done before noon.
• Pinterest put the idea of a full-size milk carton igloo in my head, and now I'm trying to figure out how to save enough milk cartons to make it happen. I think my kids might be able to overlook some of my parenting uncoolness if I could make this appear in our loft. Jeff figured out that at our current rapid rate of milk consumption, it would take me about two years to save up enough, which kind of put a damper on my enthusiasm.
• Jeff tapped our surplus of sweet potatoes and made a delicious sweet potato and chicken curry for lunch and a yummy crustless sweet potato pie for dessert.
• A flock of wild turkeys wandered through our property and were just right outside our living room windows, causing all manner of excitement on the other side of the glass.
• Jeff created a web page for us to post articles we come across that help build vocabulary. We are trying this new contextual approach to learning vocabulary in our homeschool. Ruth reads an article or two during a particular class time, writes down and defines any words she doesn't know, and then discusses the article and the unknown words with either Jeff or myself. The web site is a way for us to gather our resources together and even share them with others. 
• Weston got to go to a birthday party for one of his football teammates at Pizza Hut, and I got to flex my socializing-with-people-I-don't-know muscles.
• I made the unfortunate choice to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach, but now we have plenty of everything, so we should be good for a while. 

Happy Thursday

I began my day by fighting with a cow over our garbage. The same cow I fought with over the garbage yesterday afternoon. The large, horned, gray cow, who insisted on knocking our trash receptacles over and scattering our trash all over the street and front end of our property and the neighboring property. Again. I think I won, but it was hard to tell when I was elbow deep in slobbery trash and super-fresh cow patties. I did feel pretty good about nailing her in the nose with an empty milk carton, though.

The rest of the day was tremendously better. Obviously. My high school friend/college roommate/bridesmaid and her hubby, who live in Michigan now, were passing through and stopped in for lunch and a very nice visit. I keep up with Katie through her blog and Facebook, but it was so, so good to have a long overdue face-to-face meeting.

A special friend

Ruth and Weston had their music lessons today, and Ruth came out bubbling about all the things she learned and the good feedback she received from her teacher and the things she was going to work on in the coming weeks. This was certainly exciting for all of us, since last week she came out with an I-don't-really-care-if-I-ever-go-back attitude.

Horse riding was canceled for today, which meant that Ruth and I got to join the boys at the homecoming parade. Weston and Max both felt pretty big riding on those floats and throwing candy just like the high school boys. And, Clay learned the art of smiling and waving at pretty girls to get what he wanted. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this new skill.

"The Big Show" Number 99

Mighty Number 5

Max's painted sign

Ready for some candy

After the parade, I got to go to my once-a-month Mom's Night Out, with several very sweet ladies from our CC group. We enjoyed delicious food and wonderful (grown-up only) conversation. And, after that, I got to go grocery shopping all by myself, which in Mom Land is sort of like going on a mini vacation.

Aside from the early morning cow incident, it was a truly lovely day! I hope you had a happy Thursday as well!

It's a sign

Tomorrow my boys will join with the rest of our small town in the participation of the homecoming parade. They will get to sit on floats and throw candy at the multitudes (and probably snitch a few pieces for themselves). They will don their uniforms and display their handmade signs. And, really, it's those blankety-blank signs I'd like to talk about. Last year, I drew the letters for Weston, but otherwise let him decorate his completely on his own, with whatever markers he could find that still had ink. When we got to the parade, I saw that all of the professional sign maker moms had done the work for their boys and had stepped it up with glitter and rhinestones and ribbons and dozens of other cute craft implements I'm sure I don't even know the names of. I wasn't ashamed of Weston's sign, and he was very proud to have done it himself, but this year, I thought I'd at least get out the Crayola paints so the boys' posters would show up better amongst all those professional ones. (My boys still did all the decorating themselves, because that's how we roll around here). A few minutes into the project, I remembered why that paint lives on a high shelf in the storage closet and why we don't really do painting projects in the Watts' home. The kids' school desk and several articles of clothing, including those of a child who wasn't even involved in the project, were covered in purple "washable" paint, which I know perfectly well is just a label they put on that stuff to dupe weary, gullible, guilt-ridden parents into buying it. I can only thank God that I didn't have the ridiculous notion to pull out the glitter!

Weekend Pics

Serving for the Apache

Playing a duet with Nana

Sporting their Sunday best

Indulging in a cupcake at First Sunday potluck

Full and Fun

At about 8:00 this morning all the boys left our house for the football field. Ruth and I left about 8:45, so we would have time to stop at Starbucks (for a Java Chip Frappuccino for Ruth and a Pumpkin Spice Latte for myself), before heading to the gym for her volleyball game. After the completion of her three sets, we connected with the boys and many of our extended family at the football field, to watch the fourth quarter of Weston's game. It was blazing hot, but Weston was pumped because he got to play on the offensive AND defensive lines AND be the ball carrier on one play! Max was thrilled to have been one of his team captains. When the family was gathered back at the house, soaking in the glorious air conditioning, we enjoyed a fabulous lunch of pulled pork tacos. Then, the men settled in to watch some football (with a nap or two thrown in for good measure), while the kids played outside and the ladies went shopping. Late in the afternoon, the party broke up, as everyone headed home. The baby sitter arrived at 6:00 and Date Night commenced. Jeff and I had dinner at the wonderful Buenos Aires Cafe in Bee Cave. We sat on the patio, as the chilly wind blew around us, and marveled at the major change in the weather during the course of just a few hours. Just as our appetizers arrived, the umbrella from the next table inverted, took to the air, and then lodged itself between our own umbrella and the side of the building. That was enough to send us to an inside table to enjoy the rest of our meal. And, enjoy we did! Every bite we put into our mouths was absolutely fantastic! After dinner, we walked down to the movie theater to see "Captain Phillips." Wow! What a movie! You simply must see it. It was a very full day, but oh so much fun!

To furnish or not to furnish? That is the question.

Our new bedroom furniture was supposed to be delivered the day after tomorrow. (Yes, Sunday. Weird, I know.) But the delivery company called today to say that they routinely open the crates to make sure nothing is damaged before they make the final stop. From a business standpoint, this seems like a good move, as it saves them from unnecessary travel and keeps them from having to have a personal interface with a disappointed or angry customer. Unfortunately, some of our pieces were damaged, so they won't be delivering them on Sunday after all. I was looking forward to having the new furniture, but the real bummer is that I have spent much precious time this week unloading the two night stands and dressers we already had in the room and moving them to new, much less convenient locations (like the attic). And, all of our clothes and micellaneous stuff is camping out in suitcases and bags in our closet. The original shipping estimate was 4-6 weeks, so I'm wondering if that's what I should expect for the replacement furniture. Is it worth it to press the old furniture back into service only to have to go through all of the unloading and moving again, or do we just pretend like we're on sort of a ghetto vacation and live out of haphazardly prepared suitcases, in a sparsely furished room, until the new furniture gets here?

The Case of the Mysterious Face Pain

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I don't want to be a whiner, but one of the reasons they've been so sparse is because I have been drained of all creativity, and even mundanity, by this throbbing pain in my face that just won't quit. I cannot tell weather the pain is coming from my tooth, gums, upper lip, nose or sinus cavity, but the left side of my face feels pretty much like it's been 10 rounds on the losing side of a boxing match. And Jeff even noticed this morning that my cheek and lip seemed a little swollen. I have no other symptoms and can think of no event that would have led to this condition. Pain meds and ice don't seem to help much, so I'm off to the doctor this afternoon to see if this mystery can be solved.